Vacation . . . all I ever wanted

The Go-Gos, you gotta love 'em, huh?

Showing my age here.

We had a nice vacation. We had a few strange things happen; Mark lost his wallet (but then later discovered it, after cancelling credit cards, etc), we got into a wreck (minor), and it poured down at the outdoor Kenny concert. But all in all, it was good. You're thinking, 'Yeah, that sounds just lovely', but it actually was.

We visited Shamu (I also ate like Shamu), saw the Riverwalk in San Antonio a couple of times, saw some wildlife close up (a little too close up for my taste at times, no thanks I don't want to get licked by an animal with antlers larger than a Suburu), went to an old western town, panned for gems, and saw Mr. Chesney.

I'm going to share many pictures for your enjoyment. I've missed everyone and am trying to catch up on your lives since I left. XXX OOO

Feelin' like a family . . . at least for now

Today was good. You know why?
Because, today, for the first time in a long time, I felt like a family.
Mark was off of work; his first day off since he started his job in November (not including the weekends).

I had to work, so he kept the kids. I didn't have to get them up and ready for the first time in 6 months.
I.made.it.to.work.early. Someone please hang a medal around my neck and stick a gold star on my forehead.

He took them to visit MawMaw and PawPaw and took Em' to pitching practice.
He spent time with his boy. And they were there when I got home. And we actually got to hang around a bit.

Something as simple as that made me happier than I have been in a while.
I want my family back. My whole family. Hopefully, one day soon, that will happen.
Happy Almost Father's Day, Mark. Without you, we just can't be us.

Love,

Froggie

Lone Star State Bound

We're off for the week to the great state of Texas, Dallas and San Antonio, to be exact. The best part, I get to see Kenny again! With my girls, this time. Thanks, Ches.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and a good week. I'll post about my vacation when I'm back home. Peace out.

I'll leave you with a few of my favorite pictures from the weekend:

Animal Planet Expo

We took the kids to the Animal Planet Expo in Baton Rouge yesterday. It was H.O.T. I think the heat index was about 160. Okay, I'm exagerating a little, but still it was steamy.

We had a good time though and even got pictures with the Irwin girls! What do you mean, those look fake?! No way.

Things that make me happy

1.) Stepping on the scale to find that I've lost weight.

2.) Lazy afternoons playing with my kids in the pool.

3.) Long, quiet baths after my kids are asleep.

4.) Looking forward to summer vacation.

5.) Fridays

6.) Having the advantage of having my family right next door.

7.) Hearing from friends.

8.) Izzo's Burritos in a Bowl

9.) Blog comments

10.) My new Sugarland CD

Hope y'all have a nice weekend. I'll leave you with this face (a pic from last year full-teethed!)

Overheard lately in my house . . .

Anna (from the backseat as she read something out of a magazine):" 'I have a pussy, so I get whatever I want'. Mom, what does THAT mean?!"

(It was a saying on a T-shirt)

So, now my 11 year old knows a slang word for the female part. Nice.

John M's latest favorite sayings: "Do you like it like a'dis or do you like it like a'dat?"

"Jump on it!"

Don't ask where he gets these things from.

Look where I was last night . . .

My first concert in about 15 years. And the best one
I've ever been to. We were at the Sand Bar - woo-hoo!

Satisfied Saturday

I didn't do a Grateful Friday post, so I'm doing this baby.

I've been really grumpy lately, and mean to the kids. I feel guilty about it, but I think it's due to not enough 'me' time and too much 'them' time. That may sound selfish, but that's the honest truth.

So Mark helped in a big way today and took the kids galavanting around so I could have much needed me time.

I'm proud to report that I managed to do the following:

Wash, dry, and fold all the clothes in the house (a huge feat! in this, the house of many females).
Wash the outside of my car and clean out the inside (well, somewhat...)
Clean out 2 kitchen drawers that were a MESS!
Finally give Pearl a flea shampoo and try to totally de-flea-ify her.
Practice pitching with Anna.
Have 2 of the girls' friends over to spend the night.
Play with my boy outside for a long while.

It was a good satisfying day and it was just what I needed. Hope y'all are having a good one too.

Family and Farm

We had a nice weekend filled with family we don't see nearly often enough and farm life that I too often take for granted.

Mark's brothers, from Orlando and Colorado Springs, came in to visit for a few days filled with eating, fishing, baseball and lots of book-reading. John M. took full advantage of having them over to have his favorites read to him.

And he loves to fish. Or at least pet the fish.

Sunday, I rode out to look at the farm. The kids always ride back with Mark and I stay behind to do housework (bo-ring), but I joined in Sunday and it was nice and breezy and green. Thought I'd share some pics with y'all.

One of our neighbors in digging a big pond that I hope we can fish in one day.

Mark had hired some guys to bale the hay and it was fun to watch the bales being dropped.

Okay, we can go off and all hum the tune to 'Green Acres' now.

Flat Busted

Okay, the title could be taken a couple of ways. And today, I meet both of the criteria.

The first way is obvious. Duh.

The second way is because of an expensive past couple of weeks. Can I vent? Here I go.

Our first major expense came two weeks ago when our dog, DeeDee (remember her?) was hit by a car and broke her leg. She's been at the vet ever since. She's doing better and hopefully will recover fully, but I don't want to see the bill. They estimated $600-700 for 1 week and she's been there 2.

Then, came our new house payment book, that we received in the mail this week. Our note had gone up $115/month. WTF? The majority of it being miscalculated escrow. We could reduce the amount by about $75/month by paying close to 900 bucks. So we did.

Then, yesterday, our A/C stopped working. Long story short, 1600 bucks. We are officially flat-busted, in every sense of the word.

I'm rethinking vacation. Sigh.

But, as my friend, Krystal, put it yesterday, 'Look at it this way, at least you can afford to pay for these things and don't have to do without'. True. Way to look on the brighter side. I need to do that more often.

(Reminds me of my friend, Jolie's story of her cat, 'Tripod'. Somehow her cat hurt his leg, and they took it to the vet for the diagnosis. The vet said it would be hard to save the leg and quoted some enormous price for it, like over 1000 dollars. Her boyfriend came back with, 'So, how much for a three-legged cat?' And that's how Tripod came to be named.).

I never did post a picture of Anna in her glasses so I finally am getting around to it. And a couple of the other 2 for good measure.

Hope y'all have a good weekend.

Oh, by the way, my house is infested with fleas. We're on our second round of flea-bombing today. I've had a great week, can you tell?

It's been 11 days since my last post?

How did that happen? I hope everyone had a Happy Mother's Day. I had a good one. Mark and the kids gave me a big pot of pretty zinnias and some planters. Emma made me a 'Best Mom Ever' frame (see below) and John M. let me snuggle with him for about 2 hours on Sunday. Can't get a better gift than that, huh?

We enjoyed a nice lunch with my sister and her kids, and my mom at my favorite seafood restaurant, Don's, on Sunday and visited Mark's parents that evening. The kids got to pick veggies from the garden, ride out and pick blackberries and show off their softball skills to Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw. It was a nice day all in all.

To top it all off, John M. got his nail thing going. Doesn't he look excited?

Grateful Friday

I don't like the fact that I haven't been posting much, if anything, between my Friday posts, but life is crazy, so I guess this is just how it'll have to be for now.

I'm thankful today for:

1.) These pretty pictures that my mom took of the boy.

2.) The cute 'little boy' haircut that Mrs. Sam gave John M.

3.) Softball practice getting into full swing (no pun intended). I'm looking forward to both my girls playing softball this year. Emma may even play 1st base!

4.) My new dining room chairs, courtesy of Tar-jay.

5.) Mark helping around the house this week, he's been washing dishes on a regular basis. Not the norm for him.

6.) My agapanthus being a hair away from full bloom. I love those things!

7.) Mark's brothers coming to town in a couple of weeks. They're never all here at the same time.

8.) Not cooking all week! We've been fast food queens this week, but what the hell? It's easy!

Hope everyone has a nice weekend. It's rainy over here, but hopefully we'll see the sun some over the weekend.

Grateful Friday

1.) Nice, sunny weather today and predicted for the next few days.

2.) Anna's LAST volleyball game tomorrow morning. I enjoyed it but am glad it's over at the same time.

3.) A girls night out with my sister and mom tonight to go to a 'Ladies Auction'.

4.) New dining room chairs coming in, in a week or two.

5.) A great family, both little and big, surrounding me on a daily basis.

6.) Mark helping me out around the house the past couple of days.

7.) Our local waterpark opening next weekend!

8.) The snowball stand.

10.) Beignets at the coffee shop.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

So, we went fishing

on a little lake about 45 minutes away from where we live. It was really pretty and quiet and nice. Except for all the complaining. From 2 girls who live with me. And all the caught up lines. In trees. On roots. On the bottom of the lake. See that look on Anna's face in the picture above? That look was maintained for much of the boat ride.

Emma was the only one to catch one little fish, that Mark likes to call a 'fotknocker'.

The boy liked it. When Mark let go of his Spongebob fishing pole so that he could use it himself. ;^)

I put my white leg picture in there for a reason. It's going to be my 'before' picture and at the end of the summer, I hope to be one tan mama!